


In our countless lives

by eldafreya



Category: Haikyuu!!
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fanfiction, Mental Health Issues, Multi, Romance, Sexual Content, Smut
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-03-03
Updated: 2021-03-03
Packaged: 2021-03-16 00:28:39
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 3
Words: 8,035
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29816694
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eldafreya/pseuds/eldafreya
Summary: Misumi was resilient, strong headed and confident. Plagued with dreams that renders her weak and helpless. She runs away after losing her first Women's open Tennis match ever since becoming a pro, to organize her thoughts and figure out what had been causing her to lose focus and sleep. Making new friends, finding pieces of herself that she did not even know she lost and falling in love with a man who causes her heart to beat fast and her head to ache.Bokuto had his life planned out and that included becoming a pro volleyball player, then playing in the Olympics. Falling in love hadn't even occurred to him, not that he was unaware of what it is. Settling down and starting a family had been pushed way back into his plans, let alone getting involved with a girl. He had no plans to let anything steer him away from his goals, so what was it about Misumi that had him wavering? She bothered him and rubbed him in a way that irritated him. Something that was completely out of character for him.[[The story takes place during the timeskip arc]]
Relationships: Bokuto Koutarou/Original Female Character(s)





	1. Rio

Misumi huffed as she found herself on the streets of the sea side night market in Rio looking for her brother, "I swear I'm going to hit him as soon as I find him!" she peeked in bars and restaurants, recalling her earlier conversation with one of her brother's team mates that he had gone out to get dinner with a couple other guys. Fishing her phone out of her back pocket, she dialed his number in an attempt to get a hold of him again but to her dismay, her call was directed to voicemail. She closed her eyes in defeat and ran her fingers through her light brown hair, feeling the dryness of it due to the long hours she spent inside a plane and the humidity only further fuelled her irritation.

"Whatever, I'll go to his hotel tomorrow and kick his ass three times harder" Misumi wasn't going to spend the entirety of her night looking for her forgetful brother after spending close to twenty hours in flight from Los Angeles. As her mission was now postponed, hunger settled quickly and felt her stomach demand for food. She scanned the street vendors and restaurants and decided she'd rather have a quick bite from a vendor and get back to her room to rest than sit down in a restaurant. The smell of deep fried pastry coaxed her to cross the street towards the beach and after getting her fix of cheese and chicken stuffed pastels, and an ice cold sugarcane juice, the cheers of a crowd surrounding a beach volleyball game had her intrigued enough to sit nearby and watch.

Looking around in the gathered crowd, she saw young and old cheering for both teams, even more intrigued as they cheered louder and tilted her head to the side in order to see the scoreboard that's been propped on the sand. "Not looking good for the other team huh"

As if out of an action movie, a familiar looking boy came soaring upwards, towering above the crowd that came as a surprise due to his smaller stature, his orange hair swept back by the wind, the focus on his eyes locked on his target and with his arm outstretched to hit the ball, "HINATA SHOYO?!" Misumi yelled in shock, resulting in Hinata turning his head to the direction of the voice, hitting the net and missing the ball completely.

_'Oh my god'_ thought Misumi, realizing her mistake of distracting a player mid game. She excused herself through the crowd and found a confused Hinata with the ball in his hands after picking it up. "you're... huh? wait, you look like someone" he apologized to the opposing team and asked for a quick break.

"Ah, you probably wouldn't remember me since we've only met twice during first year of highschool. I went to watch my brothers match against yours!" Misumi explained, Hinata tilted his head, trying to put a name on a face, "brother? who?" and just as she was about to say who, the very same man called out to her.

"Misumi! what are you doing here?"

"Tohru-nii..." Misumi turned to see the man calling out to her and as soon as her eyes landed on the familiar face that had her running around Rio's streets in search of him, her fist landed on his midriff just as her anger quickly came back to her. "DID YOU FORGET I WAS COMING TO VISIT YOU IN ARGENTINA? I FLEW ALL THE WAY FROM L.A. TO ARGENTINA ONLY TO FIND OUT YOU'RE IN RIO!"

"Oikawa senpai's sister? eh? he has a sister?" Hinata realizing who the 'brother' is, watched as Tohru was on his knees, trying to get the air back that his sister knocked out of him. He held a hand out trying to stop his sister from doing anymore damage to him, "wait... _*cough*_ I thought that was next month?" in an attempt to clear up misunderstandings. "you said August!"

"Has your stupidity gotten worse over the years that you can't even read a calendar properly? it's already August!" Misumi feeling another wave of anger pass her due to her brother's lack of common sense has her wanting to beat the stupid out of him. She released a heavy sigh, to calm herself and turned to a fearful Hinata, "sorry about this Hinata, I didn't mean to yell out mid game and distract you."

"oh that's alright, I don't think we had a chance against those veterans anyways. We do owe them beer though since that was the deal" he glanced back to their opponents grinning.

"let me settle the bill then since I feel bad, of course courtesy of my Brother's wallet!" Tohru who had finally been able to peel himself off the sand, turned to his sister openly offering his wallet to pay the bill as if it was hers. Sighing in defeat, he gestured for the two guys they played with to come forth, "let's go settle this deal, we admit defeat, but don't think this will be the last game! Hinata and I will definitely beat you guys next time!" The two guys laughed out loud and accepted the challenge.

After exchanging tips and information with their opponents and saying their goodbyes, Hinata and Tohru both turned their attention to the girl sitting in between them scrolling through her phone. "Misumi, how did you find out I was in Rio?" Tohru grabbing a nearby clean napkin, reached out to wipe the beads of sweat forming on his sister's forehead. "When I got to your dorm in Argentina, one of the administrators informed me that your team went on a training camp in Rio, so naturally I booked the earliest flight."

"You could've stayed in Argentina, I would've been back in a week" Misumi after sending a message on her phone, turned to her Brother pouting. "You expect me to go wait around by myself in an unknown city by myself when I came all this way to see you?" she then hugged Hinata's arm, flustering the orange haired boy who'd been watching the siblings exchange. "Plus, had I not followed you to Rio, I wouldn't have met Hinata again! you always talk about him and Tobio, of course I'd want to get to know the person himself better after hearing his name come out of your mouth so much!"

Hinata surprised to hear his Senpai talk about him to his sister quickly recovered from his self awareness of having a girl other than his own sister hugging his arm, "Eh? Senpai you talk about me and Kageyama? about what?" Tohru clearly displeased that his sister was touching a man, pushed Hinata's face in an attempt to peel him off of her, "I wasn't! Why would I talk about you and Tobio! I have more important things to do! now let go of my sister you shrimp!"

"Nii! stop acting so overprotective, I'm just being friendly and I want to get to know him better!" Misumi frustrated at her brother, scooted closer to Hinata and turned her attention to him, "He always goes on about how you and Tobio are always annoyingly getting better each match, but I can tell he really enjoys playing against you since it challenges him", Tohru quickly covered his Sister's mouth to prevent anymore embarrassing information to be leaked, "shut up! that's enough, I don't enjoy playing with them at all! they're annoying, especially Tobio" Hinata laughing at his flustered actions, "Misumi-san, do you also know Kageyama? since you're calling him by his first name?"

"Yeah I went to the same elementary and middle school as these two, and I was in the same class as Tobio all throughout all of those years. We became pretty good friends too!" She pulled out her phone to show old photos of him and their group of friends. "This was about a year ago when I visited Japan last" Hinata intrigued, "visited? you don't live in Japan?"

Happy to provide more information about herself, whilst ignoring his huffing brother downing the last of his beer. "I moved to Los Angeles after my first year of high school to follow a coach I admired"

"That's the same as Oikawa-senpai! I guess you guys really are siblings huh? you do look alike a bit, Oikawa-senpai's good looking and you're really pretty as well!" Hinata unaware of what he said, saw a giggling Misumi and a shocked Tohru, "OI! STOP HITTING ON MY SISTER!" the realization of what slipped out of his mouth dawned on Hinata, causing him to flutter about, blushing and apologizing profusely about how he tends to say things first before thinking.

After bantering with Hinata how his sister is completely off limits and how he's years too early to think he'd let a shrimp hit on his baby sister, he turned towards Misumi after placing a few notes on the bill clip left by the waitress. "Misumi where are you staying? I'll walk you back since it's really late now. We can go sightseeing tomorrow after my training" She nodded, standing up to follow the two men out of the bar. "Hinata are you busy tomorrow? Wanna keep me company while my brother's in training?"

"Oh I have my part time in the morning and then I have to practice beach volleyball with my partner after. But I can come and have lunch with you!"

"Hmm, so I'll be by myself for the most part huh. I'm sure I can find something to do or I can just hang out by the beach" Tohru feeling sorry, started to go on about how he can try and get out of practice tomorrow and keep her company. "No no, I know how strongly you feel about volleyball. Plus I was the one that chose to follow you to Rio. I can keep myself busy while waiting, don't worry!"

After parting with Hinata, the siblings started walking towards her hotel whilst she was informing him of her trip to Argentina then to Rio. "Yeah, sorry about that Mii-chan, I lose track of the days when training kicks into full gear. I got an ear full from Mom as well because of it when I forgot to send Takeru's gift on time"

"That's alright, I'm completely aware of how you are. It was my mistake not to call you to inform you I was on my way" Misumi went on her tip toes to pat her brother's head in comfort. "So tell me why you're flying in to see me all of a sudden. It's not like you to pull something like this especially in the middle of the tour. Does it have something to do with..." seeing his sister's mood turn sullen at the mention of the tournament, he could already guess the reason. "How bad?" he asked after considering, "she completely wiped the court clean with me. I think I underestimated her a little since she was a rookie to the professional world and hadn't made a name for herself, but after that match, she's had the media's attention after beating one of Coach Michael's star pupils" scoffing at the recollection of her defeat and overconfidence, wanting to run away from the humiliation, she decided to fly off to visit her Brother and avoid the media's eyes and pestering.

Tohru put his hand on his sister's head, a habit he's always had to comfort her, "if there's anything I know best, it's that when I underestimate an opponent, they always have an annoying way to hand my ass to me and prove me wrong" Misumi lifted her gaze from the ground and up to her brother with a mischievous grin, "just like Hinata and Tobio?" Tohru messed his sister's hair annoyed at the names mentioned, "yeah just like them! but from then on, I learned it's best to really study your opponent and evolve yourself even during the game in order to destroy them!"

Misumi laughed at her annoyed brother and nodded, "yeah I'll keep that in mind. Well this is me" the two stopped in front of a lavish hotel that had Tohru blinking. "isn't this a little much?" Misumi grinned and held up two fingers as a 'V' sign, "did you forget that your sister's a famous tennis player? besides, the agency got this hotel for me. I suggested they got me a room in the hotel you're staying at but they went on about how badly it would look in my image if the paparazzi saw me staying at a rough looking hotel"

"What? hey! I'm staying at a three star hotel! nothing about it is rough!"

"Anything below a four star is rough especially if it has something to do with fame!" She retorted back. "I'll see you tomorrow Nii! Good luck at practice" and before Tohru could retaliate back at her, she disappeared behind a golden coloured sliding doors.

Misumi tossed her purse on the couch and made her way to the bedroom, separated by sliding doors, she opened her luggage and took out a clean pair of underwear and her silk pyjamas before stepping into the bathroom to wash off all the sweat that's made her feel sticky. Examining herself on the mirror above the sink, she concluded that her skin aside from her hair needed some serious TLC after her journey. She let the shower run to get the hot water going while she peeled off her clothes that's stuck to her due to sweat and tossed them aside, "ah they chipped!" she exclaimed, seeing the polish on her toe which she had just applied the night before her flight. "That brand's no good huh? I still have to say something positive though since it was a paid advertisement"

She quickly checked her other toes and found two others had also chipped. Sighing disappointedly at the quality, she stepped inside the shower and let the hot water envelop her body.

After an extensive self care, she went to the kitchenette attached to the living room and grabbed herself a bottle of water from the refrigerator. Plopping herself on the bed, she leaned back on the headboard and checked her phone for messages and when she saw Kageyama's reply, she immediately pressed it open and spat a bit of her water out in shock. "I guess he decided on this one huh" she said excitedly as she examined the picture Tobio sent of himself in his Schweiden Alders uniform next to Ushijima Wakatoshi donned on the same outfit. "That's right, he's also in Schweiden" placing her bottle on the night stand beside her, she replied to his message.

**_Misumi_** : _Schweiden_ _huh_?

**_Kageyama_** : _Yeah, they seemed to be the best choice for me and I wanted to also set for Ushijima- senpai_

**_Misumi_ ** _: Congrats! I'm looking forward to your matches_

**_Kageyama_ ** _: Thanks, I think my first one will be against the MSBY Jackals_

Misumi's smile slowly faded upon reading Kageyama's reply and stared at the team name mentioned. 'Jackals... that means he is going to be there' she thought to herself as her attention flipped back to Kageyama's next message.

**Kageyama** : I read about your match. You did well.

Misumi smiling slightly at the comfort replied.

**_Misumi_ ** _: Thanks, I have to lose once in a while or else it would be too boring don't you think?_

**_Kageyama_** : _I know how much it hurt you. How long do you think we've been friends?_

Misumi bit her bottom lip as tears pooled, feelings of regret, disappointment, humiliation and fear came flooding back as the match replayed in her head in perfect detail. She gripped the phone as she continued her conversation with her childhood friend.

**_Misumi_** : _I have so many regrets._

**_Kageyama_** : _the only thing you can do now is move on and learn from your mistake and hone your skills. Use this defeat to fuel your desire to win next time._

She laughed amidst the tears that continue to flow at her friend who was awkward at everything aside from volleyball, giving her some encouraging words.

**_Misumi_** : _Who are you? I don't think this is Tobio. He's not one to come up with those comforting words_

**_Kageyama_** : _shut up, even I'm capable of learning how to encourage someone, especially after having to set for an idiot for three years. Anyways, I have to go, practice starts soon and I have to warm up_

She knew he was talking about Hinata as he was mentioned now and then whenever Misumi asked about Karasuno to Kageyama and with that, she replied one more time before turning her phone off and sliding to lay on her side while wiping her tears with her fingers, and stared out the window that had the curtains pulled back slightly to show the lights that shone the streets of Rio, with her exhaustion kicking in, she dozed off and dreams of the boy that constantly called out to her for years faded in.  
  
  
  
  


to be continued...


	2. Misumi Oikawa

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Translations for words and sentences with an asterisk will be in the end note! Please do correct me if any of these are incorrect as I relied on google translate for them!

Hinata after losing his wallet the night before; though regrettably since the wallet in itself had sentimental value, can already see Natsu's reaction once she finds out he lost it. He faced the next morning with gusto and went to his part time job more motivated than ever after meeting Oikawa out of nowhere and feeling comforted seeing a familiar face in an unfamiliar city. 

"Crazy how small the world really is. It seems vast since you've lived in a small island compared to the rest of the world but you'll never know who you'll meet and where" Hinata peddled faster to get to his delivery location, and after confirming the drop off, headed back for another delivery. His morning went on as it always had ever since he came to Rio, after lunch, he headed out to meet his new partner, Heitor Santana at the beach to practice.

"Heitor! Nice! * _boa tarde_ " Hinata dropped off his backpack beside where Nice, Heitor's fiancee was sitting as the couple greeted him back.

"The wind's pretty calm today, I think we'd be able to get some few practice hits in. Go ahead and warm up Shoyo" Heitor suggested as he licked his finger and held it up to the sky to check the wind, then took a sip of water from the bottle Nice handed him.

"I jogged here, I'll just do some stretches and we can go right at it!" Hinata explained as if he understood Heitor completely. Without letting another second waste went into a low position to stretch his legs, switching from his left to right before plopping down on the sand with his legs stretched outwards, leaning his upper body down towards the sand with his arms stretched out in front of him. He had been lost in thought about how funny it was that he would meet Oikawa on the other side of the world along with his sister who's also Kageyama's childhood friend when he felt two firm hands push him down further. Hinata jolted from the unexpected touch and looked up to see Misumi smiling widely adorned in round designer sunglasses and, a pair of pearl earrings dangling on her ears. He thought she looked angelic with the sun behind her creating a halo on her head and her white sundress flowing down that stopped just mid thigh.

"Hi Shoyo! How are you this afternoon? Ah! is it okay to call you Shoyo? I thought it would help us become closer if we're on first name basis without honorifics" Misumi adjusted her beach tote on her shoulder whilst crouching down behind Hinata to get on his level.

"Misumi-san! Yes! Definitely! it's okay!" he found himself smiling back as Misumi's was contagious and adjusted himself so he was facing her whilst on a formal sitting position with his legs tucked under his thighs. "What brings you here?"

"I just finished lounging by the beach and was heading back to my room when I spotted a bunch of beach volleyball players and thought I'd find you here! I mean what luck right?" she pushed her sunglasses to rest up on her head and looked up to find the two people behind Hinata staring at her then to each other. "* _Ola!_ uh... * _meu nome e_ Misumi Oikawa! * _Prazer em te conhecer"_ Misumi laughed nervously with what little Portuguese she was able to master during her flight over while Hinata was impressed with her almost perfect pronunciation and gave a small clap.

The couple smiled widely as they greeted her back and introduced themselves to her. After bumbling over trying to figure who is who to each other, they managed with the help of Nice being somewhat proficient in English and the Portuguese language pocket book Misumi bought at the duty free shop while waiting to board the flight to Rio. 

Misumi sat next to Nice as the two boys went off to practice, the two girls started having a conversation like they have known each other for years with ease, asking one another about the most random things they could talk about. Complimenting the other's hair and what makeup they use, down to their nail polish. 

Just as the two women were giggling about plans to visit the restaurant Nice works at and shopping, a couple of younger looking girls, both who seem to be twelve or thirteen shyly approached Misumi with silly grins and trembling hands gripping on a notebook. "Excuse me" the two younger girls looked at each other after what looked like confirming their suspicions were right, "Would you happen to be the tennis player Misumi Oikawa?" 

Misumi seeing the nervousness in their hazel round eyes, showed the best fan service smile she could muster up, "Yes, can I help you?"

The two girls smiles widened, cheering slightly to each other and held out the notebooks they were gripping at in front of Misumi, "could we... perhaps have your autograph?" the girl with a short bob cut clipped back with a red bow had asked enthusiastically

"and maybe a picture?" the other asked that had a slightly longer hair, tied up on a loose ponytail.

Misumi more than pleased to provide the things they wanted, grabbed the notebook, signing their name and then hers with a small message at the bottom to encourage their dreams as they chatted on, finding out that the two girls were aspiring tennis players who admired her for being one of the youngest players to compete professionally and recognized by Michael Green, a legendary pro tennis player of his time that now coaches after his retirement. 

Nice, who was watching the whole situation unfold thought to herself while noticing that more people were starting to take notice of Misumi and crowding her. _'I knew I've seen her somewhere before. So she was a pro tennis player'_ Nice thought, smiling at the two younger girls and offering to take their photos for them. 

The four couldn't even finish saying their thanks and goodbyes when another group of onlookers who recognized Misumi, approached her to ask for the same things. A couple of men had asked her about her last game boldly. Recognizing the mocking tone, she had chosen to pretend not to hear and continued to sign notebooks and pose for pictures. 

That was not the first time she had come across misogynistic men, they certainly won't be the last. The best way to deal with them is not give them any attention and feed their egos. Women will always be mocked, belittled, and judged simply for being a Woman, and she had been taught at a young age that this had been the way Men project their own insecurities towards those who are more successful than they.

She had been taught by the several Women she looked up to that how you react to their mockery shows your level of patience and resilience. She had quickly figured out that anger or showing any signs of defensiveness, gives them the reaction they want and would just inflate their egos. Crying was the worst.

She was starting to feel uncomfortable and overwhelmed with how big the crowd was getting that it even caught the attention of Hinata and Heitor who was in their own world a few moments ago practicing. The two boys approached the crowd with Heitor calling out to Nice to ask what was going on and, just then a couple of police officers who were on duty making rounds saw the crowd and approached to see what the hubbub was. When they were informed by a curious onlooker of who was the cause, they quickly acted to get the crowd in order.

Misumi let out a small sigh of relief when she saw the officers getting everyone to stop crowding her and approached her to ask if she would like to be escorted back to her hotel. She nodded and apologized to the rest that she could not meet, explaining that she must head back due to important business and had quickly said her goodbyes to the trio.

"Shoyo i'll message you about dinner tonight with my brother! please bring Nice and Heitor as well!" Hinata nodded in amazement as he watched her pull her sunglasses back down to her face, waving to her fans following them as she got escorted back to her hotel.

"Wow Shoyo, how did you even get to know such an amazing person?" Heitor scratching his head as he also watched the crowd slowly get smaller with distance and turned to his girlfriend. "We got to talking earlier and she said her brother is Shoyo's friend. They used to compete with each other's school back in high school" Nice explained.

"Small world" Heitor patted Hinata's back to get his attention back and suggested they continue practice after Nice had informed him that Misumi had invited them to dinner with her older brother, to which Nice accepted for the both of them as they had no prior plans for the evening.

Misumi walked back and forth in front of the glass sliding door that led to a balcony as she informed her manager on the phone about her current situation.

"It's only a matter of hours before you have paparazzi at the hotel lobby, so what do you wanna do?" 

"I think I need to move to another hotel, something that's less obvious for me to stay at. How about the hotel my brother's at? I'd feel safer if he was only a few doors down from me."

"I think they'd sniff out that your brother's also in the city and where he's staying at. Why don't you just come back Misumi?"

"You know how it went after my last game Rachel, I can't face Coach yet, let alone any journalists" Misumi let out a frustrated sigh at her manager, though capable, she can be a little insensitive when it comes to her feelings. "What if I can find a very low key place that no paparazzi would think to look at?" she suggested while remembering about Hinata.

"and where would that be exactly?" Rachel lifting her gaze away from her laptop to accept another document her secretary is silently handing to her and set it aside before turning her chair to face her floor to ceiling windows looking out the busy streets of L.A. "please tell me it's not another hole in the wall BnB, you know how that went the last time I let you book your own accommodation. You almost got your kidney harvested" she took off the prescription glasses that was resting on the bridge of her nose that she absolutely loathe as it was another reminder of her age.

"That was one time! plus they totally deceived the pictures on the website! it looked decent" Misumi defended herself while pouring herself a glass of water from the fridge.

"If you call a dingy looking room in a rough neighbourhood decent, I think you need these glasses more than I do" Rachel toyed with the glass's **temples then tossing it to her desk to stand up, looking down the street from her window with folded arms.

"Coach Green's extremely patient but you know that will also run out. You have to come back and get yourself situated about your last game. I know you've never lost a major game before and you're flustered, but you have to eventually face reality." Rachel trying to remind herself of how sensitive Misumi can get with games, tried her best to sympathize.

Misumi sighed and remembered her Coach's disappointment painted across his face as she stood in the middle of the court unable to process the last half of the game, but she knew it had been completely her fault. "I know. But right now I want to stay away and figure some things out myself. I'll come back then, but until that happens, pass my apology to the Coach and tell him that when I come back, i'll have answers." she explained and hung up before Rachel could lecture her more.

She closed her eyes and pressed the back of her hand in between her knitted brows, gripping her phone tightly and, jolting when it rang. She looked at the caller ID and saw Tohru's face come up and a sigh of relief escaped her trembling lips. "Nii..." she said as cheerfully as she could at the moment but to Tohru's best knowledge, he knew something was wrong, "Hinata just told me what happened at the beach. I'll be at your door in five minutes, until then don't open to anybody."

Right on the clock, she heard a knock on the door and after peeking in the door's peephole to confirm who it was, she unlatched the lock and let her brother in. "Hi, How was practice? you look exhausted. Do you need some electrolytes?" Misumi blabbered on while walking back to the kitchen to pour her brother a drink.

"Misumi" she stopped on her track as her brother called out softy to her, he watched her small back, something he hasn't seen for years and felt helpless— not knowing what to do to help his baby sister. He couldn't help but partially blame himself for not checking in on her more often than he would like as he was busy with his own move, from wrapping his life up back in Japan and moving to another county. 

No, even before that, he prioritized Volleyball more than anything and beating Ushijima that he overlooked other important things. It isn't the fact that she herself moved to L.A. to chase after a Coach she highly admired for a sports she loved that it created a distance between them as siblings. It was the mere fact that he let it and, he stood there not knowing what she sorts of hardship his sister went through. 

Misumi's gaze fell to the floor and felt her brothers arms wrapped around her, a lump on the back of her throat swelled up. She swallowed, hoping it would stop it from welling up but found that the warmth of her brother's comfort made it impossible to stop her tears from flowing out like a faucet. She turned to face her brother and let the emotions she'd been holding back to come out while clinging onto her brother. Was it just the frustration of tasting her first major defeat that had her feeling this anxious? Had she overworked herself to the point that she mentally exhausted herself? She didn't know why what seemed trivial affected her so badly that she's unable to stop her tears nor did she know how.

All Tohru could do at that time was hold onto her tightly as if she were going to crumble if he let her go in that very moment. 

"It's alright. I'm here. You're okay" 

to be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> *Boa tarde - Good afternoon
> 
> *Ola - Hello
> 
> *Meu nome e - My name is...
> 
> *Prazer em te conhecer - Nice to meet you
> 
> **temples - these are the part of the glasses that run along your temples and connects to rest on your ear! (get it? 'temples' cause it.. nvm ; - ;)


	3. Dreams

Tohru scooped his sobbing sister's legs and carried her towards the couch, sitting down and adjusted her to sit on his lap sideways. He pulled her head to rest on his shoulder, cuddling her closer and leaned back as his other hand reached up to stroke her hair. He remembered how their older brother comforted Misumi as a child when Tohru had gone too far with a joke or had teased her a little too much and, wondered if he was doing it properly.

Misumi who had silently let her brother baby her, smiled at his effort to mirror their older brother. How long had she been crying? It felt like forever and she wasn't sure if crying made her feel more awful or relieved, but she was exhausted from it. _'I feel like a child'_ she thought while accepting the tissue her brother handed her from the box on the lamp table and wiped her eyes then her nose with it. 

"I haven't seen you cry like that ever since you fell off the tree in the park when we were little. I remember you always had to follow me and Iwa-chan everywhere we went and do everything we did." Tohru chuckled, recalling the memories of his snotty little sister always yelling and demanding and Iwaizumi caving in and letting her tag along despite his defiance.

"I don't really remember that" She pouted trying to remember if she had been such a spoiled child.

"You really gave us a fright. Thankfully you just sprained an ankle but Iwa and I really got a scolding that night and I refused to talk to you for a couple days out of anger, until you cried you were sorry over and over again" He glanced down at his sister and felt relieved that she was smiling at the memory of their childhood he was bringing up to distract her.

"I think I remember that part, I remember not knowing why you suddenly started avoiding me and would just ignore everything I said. I was really scared you hated me so I apologized without knowing what I was apologizing for"

"Aniki got mad at me for ignoring you and I felt bad seeing you cry for me" 

"Daiki-nii and I had such a huge age gap that he wasn't always around to play around with me and we lived in a neighbourhood that had kids my age I could play with until I started attending kindergarten"

The two continued to reminiscence about their childhood and once Tohru felt confident that she was feeling better, he lifted her to put her beside him and stood up to pour her a glass of water in the fridge and grabbed himself a bottle of sports drinks before heading back to sit with her again. "Have you talked to your manager about the crowd at the beach?" he asked while handing her the glass of water.

Misumi nodded while gulping down half the glass then set it on her lap, "I just got off the phone with her when you called earlier. I have to move hotels since the paparazzi's going to be here soon. I suggested your hotel but she said they might find out you're also here and bother you and your team." she leaned back and let her head hang on the back of the couch with a sigh.

"I told her i'd ask a friend that lives here currently if I could stay with them since no paparazzi would find me there but she couldn't trust my own choices given that little incident"

Tohru shook his head remembering the text she received from their older brother informing him that their little sister somehow had the worst luck at choosing places and, had almost made it on the front page for something other than tennis. "Yeah, I had a great laugh at that. Who's your friend? I didn't know you knew anybody here"

"oh I was talking about Shoyo. I'm sure he'd let me crash on his couch for a few days until we fly to Argentina" Tohru spat his drink out and turned at his sister, yelling in disbelief over her absurd suggestion.

Misumi flinched and hit her brother's arm when she saw his spit landed on the rug laid out in front of them, "that's so disgusting! and what? he and I are friends now. What's wrong with me staying with him for a few days and it's not like he's a stranger, he's your friend" she explained as she grabbed a handful of tissue from the box and started wiping the floor and coffee table that had her brother's splattered drink.

"I don't care if he was my childhood friend! He's a guy!"

"Not all guys think like you!" she huffed.

"That's exactly it! I'm a guy! I know how guys think. Do you really think guys wouldn't jump at the chance when they have a girl staying with them unsupervised?"

"first of all, that's absolutely disgusting! you're telling me you have no self restraint! I don't even wanna imagine what you'd do if you had a girl stay over at your place" Misumi in disbelief at what she's hearing from her brother, grabbed the nearest throw pillow and hit him with it.

Tohru blocked the pillow with his forearm, protecting his face then grabbed it away from her. "No! I'm not letting you stay with that shrimp! over my dead body!"

She stared at him agaped at his refusal, "so where would you suggest I stay then? I can't be in the same hotel as you and inconvenience you and your team!"

"I don't know okay! We'll figure it out but not at Hinata's! I'd rather carry you on my back the whole time than let you stay at a guy's place!"

"I'm not a kid! I'm an adult woman, and for your information, I've had my own experiences!" Tohru screamed to block out the last part of what she said, not wanting to know that his little sister has had adult experiences and covered his ears. "Don't! Stop telling me these things! A brother shouldn't be hearing things about their sister's.... private life!"

"ah you're so frustrating!" Misumi laid out on the couch and stared at the ceiling. The image of her first boyfriend came to mind, along with the memories of one rainy summer night when she had offered her innocence. 

Tohru glanced at his sister and when he felt that she would no longer inform him of her past experiences, he let his hands drop and hesitated for a second. "Mii-chan, I'm sorry"

Misumi glared at him, "for what?"

"For... not checking up on you often ever since you started living in L.A. I was so focused on volleyball that I failed to notice I was neglecting you. If you were going through stuff or having a hard time. I didn't know at all" ashamed of his own negligence, he found it hard to meet his sister's eyes. Afraid that he would find she was disappointed in him but instead, he found soft and apologetic ones.

"You had your own responsibilities and stuff to worry about. I should be the last thing you fussed on. I'm fine. It was hard to adjust at first but since I had tennis to distract me and everyone in the club was friendly, I adjusted well right after. Plus Daiki-nii and Dad called often enough to check in on me and Mom flew in every six months to spend time with me." she held out to place her hand on top of her brother's after sitting up to reassure him that he had nothing at fault in the situation.

"I'm not so sure why but all I knew at that moment after the match was that I couldn't stay in L.A. for a bit and face my Coach and everyone who cheered me on. I don't know why I started losing focus on the last half... no I don't even think my focus was fully in the game from the start. But that's why I'm here." Misumi had been wracking her brain ever since the match ended where things had gone wrong. Her practices had been going well prior to the match. No, she remembered she was making mistakes during the last three practice matches she had before her match. 

"Had you been feeling unwell before that? being sick does affect your focus in game. Take Hinata as example, I remember a time he got benched mid game for being sick during the semifinals" he explained, watching his sister's expression as it had started to darken.

"I don't think I was sick per say, but I just remembered I'd been having a hard time with sleep a month before and it gradually got worse to the point I was unable to sleep up until the actual match" she remembered she had been constantly waking up in cold sweat because of her dreams and struggled to go back to sleep after. She could never remember what the dreams were about but up until a week before her match, she woke up in tears and felt like something was crushing her heart.

"Do you think it might be stress since it was a major game?" Tohru thought out loud as his concern grew for his sister, thinking he would need to inform their eldest brother and parents about her condition.

Tohru's brows knitted as Misumi started to explain about the dreams and opened his mouth but chose to swallow his words. He needed to confirm something with his parents before he says something unnecessary to his sister and added to the things she worried about.

"come to think of it, I had a dream last night. I feel like I've had the same dream before, but this time around I didn't wake up in cold sweat but I found myself crying" she added and before Tohru could respond, they were disturbed by her phone ringing.

It had been Hinata calling to confirm when dinner was and where as he had just finished practice with Heitor and was headed home to shower first. After getting off the phone, Misumi looked at the time and turned to her brother, "I'll go shower. I feel sticky after the beach and I need to depuff my face from all my crying"

Tohru nodded and grabbed the remote for the television and turned it on to the sports channel. He glanced at the direction of the washroom and after confirming that her sister was in there, he fished his own phone out and headed outside to the balcony to make a long distance call.

At the third ring, a woman's voice answered with a loving tone, "Tohru? Did you just finished with your practice?"

"Hi Mom, I finished about a couple hours ago. How are you and Dad?"

"Oh you know, we're always doing great. Misumi called me a few days ago saying she was going to be visiting you. Have you two seen each other yet? or are you busy with the team?"

"I saw her the same night she landed in Rio. I'm at her hotel room right now. I don't know if anybody in her agency's gotten in touch with you but she got swarmed with fans at the beach today and we're trying to figure out where she could stay to avoid the paparazzi"

There was a pause and, when she spoke again, Tohru could hear the worry in her voice, "was it because of her match? I found it odd that she flew in the middle of the women's open to see you. No one could peel her out of the court practicing once she's in the zone"

"That's what I called you about. Her reaction to this is pretty unusual. She's lost matches before she went pro but it's like her world's crumbling because of this one" Tohru glanced back to the room to make sure his sister is still out of earshot and continued his explanation.

"Dreams?" his Mother repeated as concern for her youngest grew deeper. 

"I can still remember this even when it happened when we were really young because it left a deep impression on me, but I know she was plagued with nightmares as a child that had her waking up in the middle of the night screaming and crying" He could still remember the ear piercing screams of his Sister and his Mother's sobs when they couldn't understand what was wrong with Misumi.

He heard his mother sigh heavily through the phone and snapped back to reality, "Sorry Mom, I didn't mean to bring up bad memories again but it might be connected to what she's going through now."

"No, I'm glad you told me this. If she's going through the same thing again, it's better that she has one of us with her. I'm going to talk to your Father about this and discuss what would be the best option for her would be. Just keep an eye on her and tell me if anything comes up again"

Misumi was drying her hair with a towel when she poked her head out to the balcony and tilted her head to the side, "hey, I'm gonna be ready in... oh oops, sorry! I didn't see you on the phone"

Tohru looked back with a smile and shook his head, "it's Mom, do you wanna say hi?"

She happily took the phone from his brother and held it up to her ear, "Hi Mama!"

As the two chatted, Tohru gestured he was going back in to wash up and get ready to head out to dinner.

After hanging up, Misumi finished drying her hair with a dryer, and pulled out her white makeup bag with pink polka dots all over and a pink tulle bow in the middle. Settling down on the vanity table across her bed, she turned the light that illuminated the mirror before pulling out the lash curler and tube of mascara from her bag. Sweeping the brush onto her lashes after meticulously curling it, she turned her head from side to side to inspect her work. 

It was like magic how two items could brighten and open up her almond shaped eyes. She wasn't blessed with long lashes like her Brothers. She grew jealous of it when she started to pay more attention to her appearance and condemned the two.

_'Can't have everything I guess'_ she thought as she switched the mascara tube for the gloss and applied it on her full lips. The gloss itself had a tinge of pink tint that had brought colour to her lips, giving it a soft, kissable image. She looked at her reflection and contemplated whether she needed to put more colour on her cheeks and decided against it.

Misumi knew she was attractive enough to have had a few admirers, some bold enough to confess their feelings. She thought she was at least on par with her brothers when it came to looks, to which some of her closest girlfriends had disagreed that she was definitely more attractive.

Tohru came back to the bedroom after cleaning himself up in the bathroom and checked his phone to find messages from Hinata that they were on the way to the restaurant. After replying, Misumi put everything she needed into her purse and looked around to see if she had forgotten anything, upon seeing the baseball cap that she brought along. She decided it was wise to wear some form of disguise to avoid anymore unwanted attraction especially from the paparazzi, whom she would have guessed would be camping outside of the hotel by now waiting for her.

"I called the front desk. They said they'll have a couple of security escort us out of the hotel through the back door" her brother reassured her as he put his sunglasses on and looked towards the sound of knocking against the door. "That must be them. Are you ready to go?"

Misumi nodded and put her own sunglasses along with the cap and followed her brother out of the room.

to be continued...

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading "In our countless lives" so far and hope that you are enjoying it!


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